Editor's script (with table)
Fintan's editor's script. Was thought to be a "camera man script" first. "Studio Canal asked Robin Hardy about this script and he confirmed it was not a camera man's script as I had first thought." - Fintan. I have highlighted interesting things in red and commented on them below. (See also a version as text-only with different questions.) Scene Numbers Sets and Action Music Day/ Night/ Evening 1-5 1-5A Ext Harbour/Streets Howie rows ashore; McTaggert drives him E 1-4 1-2 Int Pub/Ext Pub Folksong. They clear the pub; interrupt prostitute. N 1-1 1-1A Int/Ext Church Battle Hymn. H & Fiancée spurned by butcher & all. D 1-6 Ext Street/Int P Stn Postman brings anon. letter. H & McT puzzled. D 7-12 Harbour/Isles/Plane H flies over Western Isles to Summerilse. D 13-19 Island/Harbour/H(igh) St. H.Master unco-operative re boat & photo D 20-27 Ext/Int Sweet Shop H meets May & Myrtle M., finds teenage clothes D 28-31 Ext/R(oa)ds /Grimmonds Cott(age) H rides to see Holly & Mrs G D 33-34 Ext/Int Green Man 'Landlord's Daughter'. Willow sends H up; Alder. N 35-36 Int Green Man, Bar H has supper; watches wrestling; N 37-42 Ext Green Man/Int Bar Love-in Song. H disgusted collects key and retires; N 43-47 Howie's room/Garden I put my Hand. Lord S brings Ash. H excited. N 48-52 Ext Green Man/Green W & villagers greet H. He sees boys Maypole Dance D 53-58 Ext/Int School Miss Rose & girls listen; Miss Rose says Rowan dead. D 59-64 Ext/Int Church H sees Rowan's grave & mother suckling; Old Gardener D 65-67 Int Sweet Shop May M. cures Myrtle's frog; sends H to Dr Ewan D 68-71 Ext/Int Chemist Lennox promises prints but doesn't remember Rowan D 72-72A Ext Doctors/Alley Dr Ewan says she burnt to death; Lx gloats; H hears D 73 Ext Street & Stream Children's Chant. H asks for Public Records Off. D 74-77 Int Library / P.R. Office No record of Rowan; Librn identifies; H reads D 78-79 Ext High St /Path Alder & Ghillie loading trap; H gets lift to castle D 80 Ext Stones 'Fire Dance'. Miss Rose and girls dancing. D 81-83 Int Castle Lord S elucidates Celtic inheritance for H D 84-86 Int Lab & Orch /Path H gets fruity lecture & permission for exhumation. D 87-88 Ext Common/graveyard Old Gardener digs up grave but H finds hare. E/N 89-90 Int Castle 'Tinker's Song'. Miss R & Lord S unmoved by H N 90-92 Ext/Int Chemist H breaks in to check negs. Montage Town at Night N 93-94 Int bar/Int H's room W with Alder serve H beer before he retires. N 95-96 Int W's /H's rooms 'The Liar.' W teases H thumping on wall. N 97 Int H's room Willow brings breakfast, embarrasses H D 98-106 Ext School/Harbour H.Master rows H to plane; won't start; boats gone. D 107-108 Ext Street & Inn H chase Hobby Horse; Lennox-weasel looks on D 109 Ext Village Procession Music A. Rehearsal. H observes unseen. D 110 Ext St /Int Sweet Shop Mrs M & Myrtle give clue to heathen sacrifice D 111-114 Ext/Int houses/Sts Montage Howie unmasking villagers & searching. D 115-119 Ints hairdresser/baker/fishmonger/butcher/Apple Store H questions all D 129*-124 Ext As./Int Funeral P H's last idea leads to tiny coffin & adult corpse D 125-126 Int bar/int H's room He drinks with W & Alder; overhears their plot. D 127-129 Corridor/H's room Hand of Glory. H is sick, puts it out. D 130 int Alder's room H knocks out Alder; steals Punch costume. D 131 Ext Green Procession gathered together, Punch behind Teaser D 133-135 Ext Country Road Procession Music B. Woman lead; Lord S rebukes Punch. D 137 Ext Stones P.M.C. 'Chop Chop'. Holly and Miss R scare Punch. E 138-141 Ext Beach/Int Cave Rowan revealed; Punch fights, frees her; R. leads him. E 142A-142B Ext Cliff Wicker Man. Lord S reveals who is the sacrifice; E 142C - do - Unguent Hymn. Miss R & W strip then anoint him. E 142D-142E - do - Lord S spiels on; H taken to W. Man, put in by Oak. E 142F-142G - do - Lord S addresses Sun God. All unmask and kneel. E 142H - do - From his cage Howie pleads. E 143-146 - do - Lord S orders lighting; his doubt is H's certainty E 147 - do - Finale. Summer is Icumin In?/Flames/Cries E 147B Model. Wicker Man's flaming head falls in flaming sunset. E *typo in the original. Should be 120. All kinds of interesting info in here… Howie rows ashore. We don't see this anywhere... It makes sense in that he would have tied the boat up to a mooring that is used when the seaplane is not used. On Summerisle, the rowing is done for him. Pub scene not in the movie. See various stills of this. K, penciled in, means what? Folksong I guess they didn’t know what music they’d use and thought they’d use something folky. I’ve seen elsewhere that they wanted to use The Hole In The Elephant’s Bottom (Here's Jeremy Bottoms singing a version of it... http://youtu.be/QsNIaHgH4do) (Which brings to mind the Fawlty Towers line, "Everything's bottoms with you Americans, isn't it...") Battle Hymn - The Battle Hymn of the Republic? Sure, why not. Howie and fiance' spurned by butcher. I'll have to look this up. It doesn't sound familiar. Uncooperative about boat? finds teenage clothes - Howie finding teenage clothes is not in the movie but there are stills of this and that lead to the trip to Holly Grimmond which is also not in the movie but stills exist of this. H rides to see Holly and Mrs G - This too. Oh, if only this was filmed/found. Willow sends Howie up? And I guess the mention of Alder is what we see in the movie. watches wrestling - Howie watching Oak wrestling is not in the movie. I believe that stills exist of this. It would have made a nicer scene than watching Howie eating his dinner all by himself. Don’t know if it was filmed or just edited out. Love-in Song - Oh, to know what that might have been. We have Giovanni’s instrumental music. Imaging a song for that… I Put My Hand may have been the working title or just a shorthand way of describing it, for Gently Johnny. H excited - Howie was excited when he saw LS and Willow and Ash? I never got that impression. Perturbed maybe. W & villagers greet H - I’ve read scripts where more happened that morning. Would have been nice to see this. In the Director's Cut, Willow is about the only one to greet Howie in the morning as she scrubs the outside table. May Morrison sends Howie to Dr Ewan? If there was dialogue for this, it would have been nice to hear it. Lennox promises prints? - He didn’t in what we ended up with. Lennox gloats! - That, and a later note, cast kindly old Mr Lennox as more cunning than he comes off in the movie. The Children’s Chant now? And the stream… Yes, I’ve read about that. Too bad that never came to pass and in that order…. H reads about May Day after talking to the Librarian? All these subtle changes would make for an interesting version… Alder and Ghille loading the trap. - Oh, would have been great to see this too. H gets fruity lecture. - Sounds like someone being casual. Fun! Also, we know how much was shot and not saved of the Lab and Orchard. Sure would have been nice to see it all. Miss R and LS not moved by H - Ok, more summarizing here. Montage Town at Night - This would have been fun to see. I’m guessing shots like the watering of graves and woman crying on the grave might have been in this as well. Does anyone know? W with Alder serve H beer before he retires. Changed to a glass of whisky… The Liar - What an interesting name for a song that would be. Puts it in a new perspective. I wonder what they were thinking of here. Not that I am complaining about what we ended up with! Lennox-weasel looks on - Lennox is not only dressed up as dressed up as a weasel in the procession but this is how he SHOULD have been portrayed. He doesn't watch in the movie. That adds a new level of depth to his otherwise to me, senile, character. hairdresser/baker/fishmonger/butcher/apple store - I’ve read how these all were fuller parts. And an apple store? If only they knew what that would mean these days… tiny coffin and adult corpse - I’ve wondered why they chose such a small body to put in there but never picked up on it being deliberate. He drinks with W & Alder - Not really. Another shot of whiskey. Not much socializing takes place. We don't see that Howie gets sick when he sees the Hand of Glory. More like gets mad. PMC - What song would that be, I wonder? Holly and Miss R scare Punch - I guess though I never thought Miss R had much to do with it. I guess it was all her idea… Unguent Hymn - I don’t know what hymns would for anointing human sacrifices... The humming and Sleep, Close and Fast are interesting solutions. Lord S spiels on - More behind the scenes casualness, humor. They don't kneel, do they? his doubt is H’s certainty - I would have thought it was the other way around. The intent of the screenplay, perhaps lost on the audience. A subtle point. Summer is Icumin In? - I guess at this point they weren’t sure if they were going to use this. I’m glad they did. It’s perfect. It looks like a model of the Wicker Man's head was going to be used for that final shot. Luckily the actual burning Wicker Man obliged by falling with the setting sun just behind it, giving us that great shot!